Facing Up

In this lesson, students create a map of their face and practice locating different parts using the geometric and measurement concepts they have learned in previous lessons, including location, navigation, spatial relationships, and measurement with nonstandard units. Students reproduce their face and describe it to reinforce their knowledge and skills of measuring and mapping. Using these familiar territories connects mathematics with daily encounters.

To prepare students for the activity, draw a picture of your face
with your eyes, eyebrows, nose, mouth, ears, and hairline as you look
in a mirror. Include glasses or other distinguishing features. Modeling
this activity on the overhead or a large sheet of paper taped to the
board enables students to follow the sequence of steps and the
procedures.

Discuss what you did to determine where to locate the various
components of your face. Use mental and visual measurement strategies
related to a concrete example that young children can understand, such
as, it is about three finger-widths between my eyes.

Distribute the Arrows for Mapping Your Face Activity Sheet
to students. If you reproduce the arrows on sturdy paper, students can
cut them out and use them to place the objects on their “face map”
using the arrows as a guide.

Group students in pairs. Give each pair of students a mirror. Ask
the students to draw a picture of their face that includes all its
parts, especially the features that make it unique. Remember to be
sensitive to students who might be embarrassed by their distinguishing
features, such as freckles. Have students label the parts of their face
with the labels provided in the Parts of My Face Activity Sheet.

Finally, pair students and have each partner lead the other on a
guided tour of his or her face using directional and positional words.
Move about the room listening as students share, teaching and coaching
as needed. Then select several students to guide the class around the
map of their face.

You may choose to use the Class Notes recording sheet to document student progress in this unit.

Questions for Students

How did you decide where to place your eyes? Ears? Nose? Mouth? Teeth?

What tools did you use to help you decide about the placement of the parts of your face?

Describe for me how to travel from your neck to your right ear using words to describe the direction you travel and/or words to describe the position of parts of your face as related to other parts.

Can you tell your neighbor how to travel from your hair to your chin?

Tell how you would give directions to someone who wants to travel from your left ear to your right ear.

What is the most interesting path you could travel on the face? Why is it the most interesting?

Teacher Reflection

Are all students gaining confidence in measuring length? Which are ready for
new challenges? Which need more practice?

Which students demonstrated an understanding of spatial
relationships by placing the parts of their face in reasonable
proximity to each other? Which did not? What learning experiences do
they need next?

What other objects could students map to give them practice with the key mathematical knowledge and skills of this lesson?

How could I integrate the knowledge and skills learned in this lesson in other subjects I teach in our class?

In this lesson, students use nonstandard units to measure the distance between objects found in their classroom. They create a nonstandard unit by using an outline of the teacher’s foot and cutting around it to use as a “measurer.” Students generate a list of four or five objects in the classroom from which they will measure the distance to their workspace.

Students measure the same distances as in the previous lesson using an outline cutout of their own foot. This enables students to practice using nonstandard units and to compare the measurement totals using their feet and the teacher’s foot.

The mathematical foci of this lesson are geometric concepts, location, navigation, direction, and spatial relationships and measurement concepts, using nonstandard units to measure a distance, and the iteration of units, measurement by using the same unit of measure repeatedly to determine the total. Students practice measuring with multiple units and a single unit following the methods modeled by the teacher and those appropriate for their level of understanding.

This lesson engages students in creating a map of their hands. It provides purpose for using directional or positional words with mapping. The teacher draws a map of his or her hands and begins mapping them using words the students suggest. This allows the teacher to assess positional concepts students currently know and to build on that knowledge. Students create a simple map.

Learning Objectives

Students will:

Apply spatial skills (visualization and memory)in creating a map by
placing the component parts of their face in relationship to one another

Use directional/positional words to describe paths of navigation and relationships among various regions

Common Core State Standards – Mathematics

-Kindergarten, Measurement & Data

CCSS.Math.Content.K.MD.A.1Describe measurable attributes of objects, such as length or weight. Describe several measurable attributes of a single object.

-Kindergarten, Geometry

CCSS.Math.Content.K.G.A.1Describe objects in the environment using names of shapes, and describe the relative positions of these objects using terms such as above, below, beside, in front of, behind, and next to.

Grade 1, Measurement & Data

CCSS.Math.Content.1.MD.A.2Express the length of an object as a whole number of length units, by laying multiple copies of a shorter object (the length unit) end to end; understand that the length measurement of an object is the number of same-size length units that span it with no gaps or overlaps. Limit to contexts where the object being measured is spanned by a whole number of length units with no gaps or overlaps.

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